Tagarchief: rational ethics

Our biggest concern in ethics is unwanted arbitrariness. That is why I am against all kinds of discrimination (because the victims of discrimination cannot want their arbitrary exclusion). One form of discrimination is sexism. However, the discussion of sexism is … Lees verder →

This article explains how rational democracy and futarchy, summarized as “voting on values, betting on beliefs”, is a promising solution to the central problem in politics and ethics: moral and empirical uncertainty. Rational ethics can be summarized with the slogan: … Lees verder →

In the environmental and natural health movements, people value naturalness. However, from a rational-philosophical perspective, this notion of naturalness doesn’t make much sense: it is arbitrary and not well-defined. Second, from an ethical perspective, preferring naturalness is often harmful: it … Lees verder →

Are you afraid of changing your mind about a deeply held belief, about an emotionally strong conviction that you have? A few years ago, I changed – as an environmentalist – my mind about GMOs. Since then, and due to … Lees verder →

From eight to five to three: this article is the result of a long process of several years, searching for the most important or fundamental ethical principles, refining, simplifying and deleting principles until we end up with the three ethical … Lees verder →

Accuracy, effectiveness and consistency A rational ethicist lives by the slogan: accurate in beliefs, effective in means, consistent in ends. Our ends should be consistent in the sense that our moral values or ethical principles should not contain contradictions, vagueness … Lees verder →